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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29196456">Gold and Glass</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyreAlchemage/pseuds/FyreAlchemage'>FyreAlchemage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Does a sentient automaton count as a Dwemer?, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:21:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,195</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29196456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyreAlchemage/pseuds/FyreAlchemage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An Imperial Dwemer archaeologist, an Altmer mage, and a sentient centurion walk into a bar. I mean Blackreach.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Walk</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p><p>The ruin was nice. Familiar. High, precisely carved stone walls edged with the mysterious and versatile metal of the Dwemer, pipes and gears of that same metal coming through the halls. A symphony of mechanical noises, comfort to Ae’s ears, which had heard naught but dragons these past few days.</p><p>Ae leaned against the wall near the door to the outside, descending into sitting. Outside, an echo of Thu’um as the fighting children of Akatosh went for another round. They never quit. Not even in his day.</p><p>“Asking for peace and quiet’s too much, isn’t it,” Ae said to himself. He stood up and walked deeper into the ancient freehold. Past ancient tapestries depicting geometric designs, carefully walking on rugs with similar patterns, through several doors, until, judging by the scenery, he was sure he’d reached a living area of some kind. The lamps still burned with green flame, casting a shadowy light on the stone furniture whose cushions had all disintegrated. Some materials the Dwemer had used were not made to last this long.</p><p>He looked through the cabinets and chests for anything useful, of course not finding much. Scavengers and adventurers had likely taken the best things from this place already, leaving little for Ae. Not a problem though. Not yet.</p><p>He traversed further through the halls. All the automatons he had seen had been dead, so far. He couldn’t reasonably carry that many automatons at once, so he hadn’t taken any yet. Then he saw the dead centurion. Whoever had been through here was no normal scavenger. A scavenger couldn’t break one of these, and certainly not like this.</p><p>Ae inspected the destroyed machine. He blinked once, focusing, his eyes glowing a bit blue, scanning the metal frame for traces of magicka. Powerful echoes of frost magicka just about everywhere, as if the whole centurion had been cloaked in it. What if this frost mage was still in the ruins? What if he had to fight them?</p><p>Ae checked the bolt quiver at his hip, finding about ten. Well, if he ran out of shots, there was always melee combat… or magic. He carefully moved the centurion out of the way and pressed on.</p><p>This deep, the Dwemer ruins were almost like a tomb. Actually, looking at all the sarcophagi set in small side rooms all along this hall, it was a tomb. Ae shivered, though not from cold. It was strange. Dead things usually didn’t upset him this much.</p><p>The dull whirr and hum of machines was not present here. Only the echoes of his metal boots on the stone floors.</p><p>The door at the end of this corridor wouldn’t budge. It was a magical lock, Ae noticed quickly. Whatever was behind this door, that mage didn’t want others to get to it. Ae didn’t know anything about undoing magical locks, but he could brute force his way through. He slowly took out the weapon at his back, a rifle of Dwemeri make, and put one of his bolts into it. Ae got a good distance away from the door, focused, then fired.</p><p>The bolt glowed with aether, zooming for the door at a breakneck speed. When it impacted, the blast was large and loud, and Ae could tell immediately it had worked. The door had been blasted open, any hint of magicka that had once sealed it shut now gone. This was the power of the aetherial bolt—and he had just used his last one. Now all that was left was a mix of fire and shock bolts.</p><p>Ae headed through the door, into a large chamber, whose floor was instead a sea of lava. This was clearly the final area of the ruin, where all the best loot would be, but he had a feeling that all he would find here would be danger.</p><p>Ae walked along the bridge over the lava, the Dwemeri rifle still in his hands. The heat from the lava was incredible—he was lucky his armor wasn’t warm like most Nordic armors.</p><p>At length, he stopped walking. No more bridge. There was nothing here.</p><p>…or was there?</p><p>Ae didn’t get time to question this further, because the second he turned around, magic lifted him into the air, constricting him, and he couldn’t do anything but groan in the sudden, unnatural pain.</p><p>“What are you, who wears that Dwemer armor like a second skin?” asked the frost mage, who stood at the end of the bridge looking up with bright blue eyes. She was an Altmer, that much was plain to see by her golden skin and blond hair.</p><p>“Ae,” he managed to say.</p><p>“That name is a mockery,” said the womer. “You dare to call yourself an Aldmeri word?”</p><p>The mage moved Ae close to the lava, not waiting for an answer. “How did you manage to get here? I locked this chamber up with the most powerful lock I can cast.”</p><p>She studied his equipment, then frowned. “Of course. You’re using Dwemer tech.” Then, a smile crossed her lips. “Actually… I have a proposition for you. You clearly understand Dwemer machines, and there is one at the end of this chamber, keeping my rightful treasure from me. If you can let it release the riches, I will let you live. You want to live, don’t you?”</p><p>“Yes,” Ae said. What was this womer? Why was she here? No, he’d save the questions for later.</p><p>“Excellent.” As was placed back onto solid ground—well, bridge. Now the womer pointed up. “You see up there? That is where the riches are being kept from me. Be a good excuse for a man and open it.”</p><p>Ae studied the machine. No obvious way to open it directly. There was a switch, then. He scanned the room, looking for something like that, then saw it: a tonal locking mechanism sticking out from the wall. This he pointed to and explained, “There. That is a tonal lock, and I need to unlock it to get your riches.”</p><p>“Then do it. Do not bother explaining anything to me.”</p><p>“But I need a way over there,” Ae said. “Do that spell on me, and put me down there.” He pointed to a distant platform near the lock. The womer sighed and did so.</p><p>Ae walked around the locks, carefully considering each. Given that there were five, there was likely a specific order they had to be activated in. He noticed each was marked with a Dwemeri rune. These runes were also inscribed into the wall, along with other writing. His Dwemeris was a little rusty, but he managed to discern the proper combination, and struck each lock in that order. Now the womer suddenly shot him into the air again and placed him forcefully back on the bridge.</p><p>“Why didn’t it open?” she demanded.</p><p>“It did,” Ae said, and watched as, slowly, the metal plate on the ceiling slid back, and a platform was lowered. On this platform were five lexicons and a pile of coins.</p><p>“These cubes mean nothing to me, but the coins…” The Altmer greedily gathered them in her arms, giggling like a child.</p><p>Then, the room shook, violently, as a thundering boom sounded from the far side. Ae looked, and the missing bridge segment had just locked into place. A huge door opened. In stepped the largest centurion Ae had ever seen.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mzulchond-Zel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Let the lorebending begin.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The centurion came closer and stopped. Ae waited for it to arm its weapons, but it did not. It seemed… peaceful.</p><p>“Why isn’t it trying to kill us?” the Altmer asked, looking up at it.</p><p>A ding emanated from the centurion, then a whirr, and it spoke. “This unit is designated Class A protection centurion. This unit was activated upon release of the Architect’s hoard, which is to only be released in state of emergency. This unit has been tasked with getting the hoard and the Architect and/or his associates to safety.”</p><p>“Centurion,” Ae said, “your masters are long gone. The hoard you mentioned was released because this womer here wants to steal it.”</p><p>“Understood. You are this unit’s new masters. Congratulations,” the automaton said flatly, spinning its torso around once. “This unit assesses that it is not considered theft in this case.”</p><p>“Are you going to get us to safety then, centurion?” Ae asked it. The centurion said, “First, this unit requests your names so that it can refer to you by them if needed.”</p><p>“Ae,” said Ae, then looked at the womer. She said, “Taaire.”</p><p>“Master Ae, Master Taaire,” the centurion said, as if confirming the names to itself. “Affirmative. This unit will take you to the safest place in northern Dwemereth.”</p><p>“How are you going to do—” Ae started, and then the centurion grabbed both of them in its hands. The grip was forceful, but not so much as to hurt them, just enough that they would remain secure. Now the automaton walked through the ruins, going through a passage which it had to kick the rocks away to enter. At the other end of this long, dark tunnel was a huge arch in the middle of a circular room.</p><p>“This unit suggests the masters close their eyes,” the centurion said, stepping up to the arch. “The daedrons can be detrimental to organic eyesight.”</p><p>Ae had no idea the Dwemer had used daedrons. Daedrons were infinitesimally small particles of raw energy usually from Oblivion. Ae wasn’t sure they did anything of significance besides damage things but clearly the Dwemer had found a way to use them for other purposes. Looking at the arch, he decided it must be a portal of some kind.</p><p>Ae closed his eyes, and hoped Taaire did the same. A strange sensation hit him as the portal activated—the daedrons, likely. But just as quickly as the feeling appeared, just as quickly was it gone, and now he felt himself being put down.</p><p>“Blackreach,” Taaire said. It was indeed Blackreach, but this area was one Ae’d never seen before, even after countless exploration sessions through the few areas of it he could easily get to. There was something odd about this place, though he couldn’t quite place it.</p><p>“This is Mzulchond-Zel,” said the centurion. Ae translated: city-state of the snow-throat. “This unit expects it to be completely safe as there is only one entrance. Simple organics could not enter Mzulchond-Zel without this unit’s assistance.”</p><p>Simply put, Mzulchond-Zel was a fortress. It was one of the most defensively built Dwemer structures Ae had ever seen, with no visible entrances on the outside. The balconies were well fortified, shielded additionally with a sort of forcefield, and the structure was surrounded by a lava moat. The interior was nicely decorated as well, and somehow all the tapestries, rugs, and other fabrics had not disintegrated in all this time. There was a unique insignia emblazoned on the banners that looked nothing like any other Dwemeri symbol Ae had seen; it was almost… draconic. He had to ask about it.</p><p>“What does this symbol mean, centurion?”</p><p>“This unit’s memory cores state that it is the symbol of Clan Kemel. Clan Kemel takes a dragon as their sign, this unit speculates, because they were skilled in what this unit only knows as Kagrzuun, which was borrowed from the Nords.”</p><p>“The Voice,” Ae said.</p><p>“Dwemer and Nords both used the Voice?” Taaire asked, almost in disbelief. “Next you’ll tell me the Dwemer spoke with dragons.”</p><p>“This unit has one record of that occurring,” the centurion said, a hint of… sarcasm, Ae thought, in its dull voice. “Would Master Taaire like to hear it?”</p><p>“Why not,” Taaire said, sitting on the throne at the end of the hall most gracefully.</p><p>“Clan Kemel was known to have associated with dragons. From them the clan learned the words of Kagrzuun and spoke them to each other. This unit has only confirmed this happening one time, but this unit believes it has happened more than once.”</p><p>“Clan Kemel were Voice-users,” Ae said. “Were they close with the Nords?”</p><p>“Yes,” the centurion said.</p><p>“Hm.” This was interesting, but not at all unexpected. Why wouldn’t the Dwemer have once associated with Nords? And going off that, it was only natural that some exchange of ideas would’ve taken place, and reasonably, one of the things the Dwemer learned from them was the Voice. “Centurion, show me around.”</p><p>Mzulchond-Zel was a reasonably-sized place with ample space for an entire clan of Dwemer. Of the many rooms it was clear the fortress-city had everything necessary for a civilization to have: workrooms, kitchens, common areas, forges, bedrooms, libraries…. Ae examined every tapestry he came across. They depicted scenes likely important to the history of Clan Kemel, from their formation to their arrival here to their meetings with the children of Aka, and more. Ae decided he would like living here.</p><p>After Taaire had toured the place as well, they both sat in one of the common areas, Taaire admiring the coins she still had from the other ruin, and Ae lost in thought. At length the two chose their rooms and spent their first night in Mzulchond-Zel, and Ae dreamed of dragons.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>All the dwemeris in this chapter and the next ones can be translated! I used Hrafnir's Languages to construct it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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